'll give it to them. French and his Staff believe firmly that the
British Imperial Armies can pitch their camp down in one corner of
Europe and there fight a world war to a finish. The thing is absurd but
French, plus France, are a strong combine and they are fighting tooth
and nail for the 29th Division. It must clearly be understood then:--"

(1) That the 29th Division are only to be a loan and are to be returned
the moment they can be spared.

(2) That all things ear-marked for the East are looked on by powerful
interests both at home and in France as having been stolen from the
West.

Did I take this in? I said, "I take it from you." Did I myself, speaking
as actual Commander of the Central Striking Force and executively
responsible for the land defence of England, think the 29th Division
could be spared at all? "Yes," I said, "and four more Territorial
Divisions as well." K. used two or three very bad words and added, with
his usual affability, that I would find myself walking about in civilian
costume instead of going to Constantinople if he found me making any
wild statements of that sort to the politicians. I laughed and reminded
him of my testimony before the Committee of Imperial Defence about my
Malta amphibious manoeuvres; about the Malta Submarines and the way
they had destroyed the battleships conveying my landing forces. If there
was any politician, I said, who cared a hang about my opinions he knew
quite well already my views on an invasion of England; namely, that it
would be like trying to hurt a monkey by throwing nuts at him. I didn't
want to steal what French wanted, but now that the rifles had come and
the troops had finished their musketry, there was no need to squabble
over a Division. Why not let French have two of my Central Force
Territorial Division at once,--they were jolly good and were wasting
their time over here. That would sweeten French and he and Joffre would
make no more trouble about the 29th.

K. glared at me. I don't know what he was going to say when Callwell
came into the room with some papers.

We moved to the map in the window and Callwell took us through a plan of
attack upon the Forts at the Dardanelles, worked out by the Greek
General Staff. The Greeks had meant to employ (as far as I can remember)
150,000 men. Their landing was to have taken place on the North-west
coast of the Southern part of the Peninsula, opposite Kilid Bahr. "But,"
said K., "half that number of m